Videos Show Large Crowds At LRT Stations In KL Following Rapid KL's New Train Schedule
A lower train frequency following the LRT accident yesterday, 24 May, has caused many commuters to be stranded at LRT stations today, 25 May.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 25 May 2021, 06:08 PM
Videos and photos showing huge crowds at LRT stations and on trains in Kuala Lumpur have gone viral on Twitter since early this morning, 25 May
Based on two short clips published today, many people can be seen failing to observe 1m physical distancing at the Masjid Jamek LRT station. A Twitter user complained that she was stranded from 6am to 8am at the station.
In the replies under a tweet by @AskRapidKL — Rapid KL's customer support page — many commuters said they were stuck at various train stations in the city centre and greater Kuala Lumpur for hours this morning.
One photo posted by Twitter user Indra shows that a train coach is packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder, while a separate photo by another netizen shows two long lines of commuters waiting at a train station.
Speaking to SAYS, Indra said he took the photo at 7.33am today at the Datuk Keramat LRT station.
He spent over an hour commuting from the Wangsa Maju LRT station to the Bangsar LRT station, a journey that normally takes 28 minutes.
The crowding issue in the trains and LRT stations come after the collision of two trains in the tunnel between the Kampung Baru and KLCC LRT stations last night, 24 May
The accident caused Southbound Platform 2 between the Pasar Seni LRT station and the Damai LRT station to be closed for repair.
Prasarana Malaysia said this morning that the Kelana Jaya LRT line is still operational and announced its new schedule.
The train frequency on the line during peak hours is usually one train every three minutes. However, after the accident last night, it had been reduced to one train every 10 minutes.
This is on top of the 50% capacity reduction, which is in line with the government's announcement on stricter measures in the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), reported Bernama.
However, based on the viral photos on Twitter, many netizens said that neither commuters or Rapid KL complied with the standard operating procedures (SOPs), sparking concerns about the possibility of new COVID-19 clusters at train stations.
"So much for social distancing," a netizen replied to the tweet along with a six-second long video that shows a train coach filled commuters who failed to observe 1m physical distancing
Meanwhile, some netizens criticised the government for allowing the private sector to operate with 60% employee capacity at offices, while also not conducting checks to ensure SOP compliance.
"Who will understand 60 WFH:40 office? Some companies even have 100% of their employees at offices. Those who want to complain are afraid that their bosses would scold them. Are we waiting for [the International Trade and Industry Ministry] to conduct spot checks at offices?" one person said.
Another added, "Government sector can monitor 80% WFH. If it's the private sector, he says 40% WFH. But is there anyone to monitor? Some companies still work as usual, while public transport has cut their frequency and (reduced their) capacity to 50%. People will be crowded at the stations and arrive late to their office."
